A Random Act Of Kindness
by Relatively Unknown
Summary: Ace is having a rough day, so Lance and Pietro decide to help out in an unusual way.


A/N: It's me again! Could ya'll plz write some more reviews? I need them. I thrive on them! Seriously tho', couldja? I'd appreciate it.   
  
  
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In this story, I will prove that everyone is not all bad. Even the Brotherhood. Two individuals of the Brotherhood to be exact. I won't say any more, b/c I don't wanna give the story away. :) So onward we go!  
  
  
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Ugh, today was gonna be hard. I have so much work to do. Five interviews, one of which was a luncheon, then I have to do the laundry, wash the dishes, clean the house, and a ton of other house work, and on top of all that, I have to go to a community chorus thing that I was INSANE to sign up for. And tomorrow I have to take Pietro to the juvi-court because of his Halloween fun and the day after in the restaurant. (See "Halloween Fun", PS #3) Ugh. Again.   
  
  
I walked out to the living room, where Lance and Pietro were sleeping on the floor. (They kept arguing over who got the couch so I made them both sleep on the floor.) I whacked them both over the head, much to their dismay.  
  
  
"Get up. You two got school."   
  
  
"I don't wanna go and I don't hafta." A sleepy Lance said. I whacked him again.  
  
  
"Get up now or I'll let Pietro do it."  
  
  
"I'm up! I'm up!" Lance jumped up and flew into the bathroom. Pietro was already ready, and was waiting by the door for Lance.   
  
  
"What's your hurry?" I told him what all I had to do. "Jeez. Sucks to be you."  
  
  
"Yeah, no fake. No listen, I won't get home to around five, so let yourselves in as usual. And please, don't wreck the place any more than it is. Gotta go. Bye." I walked out the door, and halfway down the hall I realized I had forgotten my keys. I turned around and almost ran into Pietro.  
  
  
"Didja forget something?" He asked, holding up my keys. I grabbed them, muttered a thanx and continued on down the hall.  
  
  
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"Hey, what was Ace's deal?" Lance asked Pietro when he came out of the bathroom.   
  
  
"She's got a ton of work to do today. And tomorrow she's gotta take me to the juvi-court." Pietro said.  
  
  
"She needs to learn to relax."  
  
  
"Maybe we should teach her." Pietro had that glint in his eye that usual meant trouble. But this time it was a little different.  
  
  
"Oh?" Lance asked.  
  
  
"Here's the plan." Pietro told Lance the plan, who agreed with only a little hesitation.   
  
  
"Oh shit, it's almost eight. C'mon, we gotta get to school. I ain't gettin' wrote up for being late again." Lance and Pietro went down to his car and headed for school.  
  
  
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If I haven't told you before, I'll tell ya know: I hate job interviews. You have to be all nice to the people that in reality you're sending mental death threats to, and you have to be all polite, and talk polite, and act like you're actually an upper-class citizen. Hell will freeze over before I'm any of those things.   
  
  
I always make sure that if I'm not accepted, I say a very polite "f--- you" and slam the door on my way out. For that luncheon I left so that guy had to pay the bill. Score: Ace 5, Idiot Interviewers 0. But what sucked was I had no real job, just several little odds and ends that paid only halfway decent. And I still had a ton of work that needed to be done. Plus it was a Monday, and I hate Mondays. Like everyone else that ain't retired.  
  
  
I sat in my truck in the parking lot of the last interview and called the apartment. It rang for forever before Pietro picked up.  
  
  
"Hello?" I heard him say.  
  
  
"Quix it's me. Just callin' to see if the building's intact. I'm leavin' the last interview now and I should be home in about 20 minutes. So whatever wild party you have goin' on, tell everybody that the bitch that lives there is on her way back and that they better go home before she gets there. Got it?"  
  
  
"Yup."  
  
  
"Good. See ya." I hung up and put the cell back into the dash. I was in Bayville, and I could not wait to get out of it.   
  
  
I might've told ya this before, but just in case I didn't, here I go. Bayville and J-Town are like two halfs of the same town. Bayville is the nice, clean, upper-class, rarely any trouble side. (That's why the Brotherhood live on the outskirts.) J-Town is the exact opposite. We're called "JT's" and the Bayville idiots are called a variety of things, but mainly "Villies". I don't like Bayville, the people in it, or anything else, and I'd rather die than live there. And being there makes my skin crawl and my temper to rise. So the faster I am out of there, the better for everyone.  
  
  
I started the truck and slammed my foot on the gas pedal. Time to go home, sweet trashy home.  
  
  
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"Lance! We better hurry! Ace is on her way home!"   
  
  
"How much time we got?"  
  
  
"'Bout 20 minutes." Pietro said.  
  
  
"That's enough. The water's still hot, and there's only five minutes left for the dryer. Can you fold all of those clothes and put them away?" Lance called from the bathroom.  
  
  
"Yeah. How's the oil and stuff comin'?"  
  
  
"How can girls like this stuff? It's a pain to do."   
  
  
"Dunno. Go figure. Didja get the music?"  
  
  
"Yup. There. All set. Did you vacuum?"  
  
  
"Dammit. I knew I forgot something." Pietro cursed.  
  
  
"I'll do it. You just fold the clothes." Lance got the vacuum, and after some inspection figured out how to work it. He was just about done when Pietro ran into the room.  
  
  
"Ace just pulled into the parking lot." He said. Lance hurried up and finished, and put the vacuum away. He and Pietro sat on the couch and pretended to watch TV when Ace came in.  
  
  
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"What did you do?" They had that look. It meant that they did something. And if I know those two, I ain't gonna like it.  
  
  
"What do ya mean? We didn't anything." Lance said, put on fake innocence. I saw right through it.  
  
  
"What did you break?"  
  
  
"Nothin'." Pietro said, also putting on fake innocence. "Tho' you might wanna check the bathroom out."   
  
  
I knew it. I dragged myself back to the bathroom. As I opened the door I smelled bath oil. I soon knew why. There was a steaming bathtub full of water and lavender bath oil (my favorite). I saw a note on the sink counter. I picked it up and read it. It said: `Ace, figured you could use this. All the house work is done. And the community chorus director dude called. Tonight's practice is cancelled. The CD player is set up and has Pure Moods II in it. We know you like that. Have fun!' It was signed Alvy and Quix. There was a PS. `PS-- Turn around.' Turn around? What for? I did so, and there was a chair behind me in the hallway. A bouquet of blue roses was there, as well as another note. This one read: `Knew you liked blue. Hope ya like the roses.' It was also signed Alvy and Quix. I went out to living room to tell them thanx, but they had already left. Oh well. I'll tell them tomorrow when I'm driving Pietro to the juvi-court. Too bad I couldn't get out that. I wouldn't want to, because then Lance would take him, and that would be a bad idea.   
  
  
You know what they say? You take what you can get. And in this case, I got the two coolest guys as friends. I went back to the bathroom to have myself a relaxing bath.   
  



End file.
